Named Lectures

Established in 2014 through a gift from Randy and Melvin Berlin, the Berlin Family Lectures bring a renowned scholar, writer or artist to campus each year for a series of public lectures. The Berlin Family Lecturer also participates in the University’s intellectual community and develops a book with the University of Chicago Press.

Supported by the Smart Family Foundation, the Smart Lecture Series brings leading art historians, art critics, and artists from around the world for a public lecture at the Department of Art History each year.

Endowed in 1925 in memory of English professor Frederic Ives Carpenter, this lecture series brings distinguished literary scholars and/or critics for a series of three lectures and engagement with students and faculty. Past lecturers include Edward Said, Stanley Cavell, Jacques Derrida, Fredric Jameson, and Judith Butler.

Endowed in 1989 in memory of Classics professor George B. Walsh (AB’67), this annual lecture brings an eminent scholar whose work reflects the restlessness and excellence that characterized Walsh's career.

Established in 1997 in the Committee on Jewish Studies, the Jean and Harold Gossett Lecture highlights artistic expression in modern Jewish culture, with particular emphasis on issues related to the Holocaust.

Presented by the Committee on Jewish Studies, the annual public Patinkin Lecture focuses on modern Israeli history, politics, government, society, and culture.

The Kestnbaum Family Cultural Activities Fund provides support for an annual program of cultural activity in the Division of the Humanities. Past programming has included conferences, performances, lectures, and readings. For the past five years, the programming has included a writer-in-residence program through the Committee on Creative Writing at Chicago.

Founded by the children of Bunny and Leo Horvitz (PhD’35), this biennial lecture brings distinguished scholars and public intellectuals to campus to explore topics related to Judaica and the Jewish experience.

Endowed in memory of alumna Louise Smith Bross (PhD’94), the Bross Lectures bring a prominent scholar of pre-1800 European art to campus every three years and culminate in a book-length publication.

Supported by a gift from Jim and Sandra Boves, the Modern Greek Culture Lecture welcomes a renowned scholar each year to explore the literature, language, history, thought, and culture of modern Greece.

Former University of Chicago President and Professor Emeritus of History, Hanna Holborn Gray furnished an annual lecture through the Regenstein Library that brings leading book historians, curators, and practitioners to the examine the history of manuscripts, archives, and textual transmission across cultures and centuries.

This endowment was established with a gift from Hildegarde M. Romberg, PhB 1921, AM '35, PhD '50, in honor and memory of her parents Philip and Ida Romberg. The lecture series enables Germanic Studies to invite renowned scholars and thinkers from other institutions in the United States, abroad, and especially in Germany.

The Schaffner Visiting Professorship is sponsored by the Nicholson Center for British Studies. This annual appointment includes seminars and a public lecture.

Endowed by Robert S. Danziger (MD’80), in honor of his father Sigmund H. Danziger Jr. (AB’37), this annual lecture brings an established scholar of “classical literature” whose work has defined the study and appreciation of literature, broadly construed.